And the Michigan High School Football Player of the Year is ...

(Photo courtesy of MIPrepZone-Morning Sun)
Ithaca senior quarterback Travis Smith won the
2013 Michigan High School Football Player of the
Year award in voting by coaches and the media.

... Ithaca senior quarterback Travis Smith. And deservedly so. His ability to win football games is unmatched - his team is 40-0 with him as a starter - and he's got tremendous statistics to back it all up. He's completed 170 of 237 passes for 3,017 yards and 38 touchdowns (six INT). He also has 414 yards rushing, with six more scores. His team will face Clinton in the Division 6 Final this weekend, looking to win the school's fourth-straight state championship.
Smith won in balloting among a panel consisting 55 reporters and coaches from around the state. He collected 18 votes, with Saginaw Swan Valley junior RB Alex Grace finishing runner-up with 10 votes. Lowell senior QB Kyle Shurlow, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North senior QB Sean Koski and Detroit Cass Tech junior QB each finished with six votes.
My vote went to Shurlow, who finished with more than 2,800 yards passing/rushing and 40 touchdowns (in 11 games - team was 10-1). Lowell's schedule is always tough. It beat Muskegon (13-1) - which will play Brother Rice for the Division 2 state title Friday - earlier this season before falling to the Big Reds, 28-21, in the district final. The Red Arrows win that game and they most likely would be facing the Warriors this Friday.